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Karen Swallow Prior: How the Church Should Move Forward Now Roe Has Been Overturned

“We still need to have these Sanctity of Human Life Sundays. We still will need to have crisis pregnancy centers. We still will need to support women making these decisions. I think that there’s just so much more power and possibility in these opportunities because we have the chance not only to save the lives immediately in front of us, but we also have the opportunity to change people’s minds and to enlarge their imaginations.”

Pastors need to know that in survey after survey, young people in the church still are just as pro-life as they have been for decades. Even as they tend to develop more progressive views, the pro-life issue remains pretty constant.”

“We need to show the biblical principles and the application of those in our society that undergird the pro-life position in such a way that the next generation sees that this doesn’t arise out of just a hatred of women or disdain for sex or judgment of people who are caught in these situations.”

“The church had to grapple with slavery. The church has had to grapple with violence toward indigenous peoples. We have not passed a lot of those tests. But here we have another chance to take a test about our beliefs about human life.”

“With Roe versus Wade being out of the way, then we actually don’t have to worry about the politics as much, at least not in in that respect. I think in my experience, most Sanctity of Human Life Sundays are focused on our local pregnancy help centers. They will still be needed. They will be needed even more.”

“I think it begins with teaching young men and young women when they are still teenagers that human life is not only sacred, but that they are part of a community that would welcome new life no matter what the difficulty of the circumstances are. So that even before a crisis occurs, these young people know they are part of a supportive community that will help them and that values life even more than all of the costs and the inconveniences that come.”

“Men should be held to account. They should be responsible, they should be brought into the picture in whatever way is warranted by the situation, [assuming he is] a not a criminal, not an abuser. There are other kinds of accountability that should be required then. But if it’s just a normal situation and the couple is struggling, then the man needs to be brought into the picture as well. It should not all be born by the woman.”

“We can’t really treat abortion as an issue in isolation because it has to do with what we believe about sexual ethics and what we believe about marriage and what we believe about about family. It’s all of those things together.”

“Yes, there’s something to be thankful for, hugely thankful for. But it really is just the beginning of a new opportunity for the church to address this issue in a meaningful way.”

“I think we just have to embody what we say we believe, which is not about oppressing people. It’s not about stripping freedom from people. It’s about a love of human life and a love of human flourishing and a desire to see all human beings live as long as they can, because they do bear the image of God. And if we really believe that, then that will come out in our posture and our words and our attitudes, even in the face of this anger and fear and hostility.”

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Antiabortion advocate worked for years to overturn Roe, but worries over next steps” by Michelle Boorstein in The Washington Post
Being pro-life means caring about all of human life. That includes being pro-refugee.” by Ed Stetzer in Vox

Karen Swallow Prior in Outreach Magazine

Karen Swallow Prior: The Truth and The Cross—Part 1” by Paul J. Pastor
Karen Swallow Prior: Engaging Culture With Truth and Love—Part 2” by Paul J. Pastor

Joshua Chatraw and Karen Swallow Prior: Cultural Engagement” by Joshua D. Chatraw and Karen Swallow Prior